“Captain...I’m Puerto Rican.”

Seven episodes into the Prison Break revival, the creative team seems to have rediscovered that the reason this show works has always been the characters. So bringing back Sucre and delivering a Michael and Sara reunion went a long way towards recapturing some of the spirit of the original series. Getting the story out of Yemen also helped immensely.

As Sucre returned, another character departed. The show never established Ja well enough to make the audience really care about him, and he seemed one-dimensional for most this season. And just when Ja was getting interesting, he abruptly stayed behind in Yemen. It didn’t fully track that Ja had found peace in the desert, but at least he wasn’t simply killed off for shock value.

That leaves Whip as the last man standing among Michael’s Ogygia gang. It’s been interesting to see Whip struggle to find his place in the group, since he isn’t Michael’s brother, he didn’t like Lincoln, and he didn’t even know Sara. But a betrayal by Whip seems less likely after seeing him bond with Lincoln, who basically declared Whip to be a part of the family. That’s endearing, but Whip is still the expendable member of this ensemble.

The emotional high point of the episode was the reunion between Michael and Sara; which has been a long time coming. Wentworth Miller and Sarah Wayne Callies still play off each other so effortlessly that it’s easy to overlook how the show so casually brought them together and separated them again. They simply hit all of the right notes, including Michael’s request to see his son for the first time.

It was unintentionally hilarious that this episode staged the reveal of Poseidon as if that was a huge secret. That revelation was blown a few episodes ago, but it probably should have been saved for this episode. With the new context provided by Michael, Poseidon’s motivations finally make some sense. After recruiting Michael, Jacob decided that he wanted Sara for himself, so he framed Michael for murder, branded him as a terrorist, and made sure that he was locked away in a prison that he couldn’t escape from. Even Jacob’s anger towards Sara felt understandable, since he put his best face forward with her and it wasn’t enough to replace her bond with Michael. If the show hadn’t bungled the earlier reveal, Jacob’s heel turn would have been even more impactful.

As for A&W and Van Gogh, they’re still pretty terrible villains and not very convincing liars. It was a surprise that Henry wasn’t fully on board with the agenda of 21 Void, but less so that he ended up dead soon after. Still, A&W and Van Gogh can’t be that useful if their non-sanctioned activities have already been exposed. These rogue agents have felt like Kellerman and Hale-lite since their introduction, and they’ve yet to justify their inclusion in this season. They didn’t even follow up on their lead about Michael’s contact in the United States.

Putting Michael and company on a freighter ship proved to be an excellent choice, but it was definitely Sucre’s presence that improved this week’s story. Sucre’s questionable investment choice was quite funny, and he had all of the best lines. Fortunately, it looks like he’ll be sticking around for the duration, following the group’s escape from the Navy Seals and the destruction of the ship. This episode had some of the best action beats of the entire season, even if the Seals couldn’t seem to hit anything.

It was a little cliché that the cliffhanger found both Sara and her son at the mercy of Jacob, but his vindictive anger towards Sara and Michael finally made Poseidon into a more compelling threat. And just in time for Michael and Lincoln to come home.

The Verdict

Although the episode glossed over Michael’s poisoning a little bit too easily, it gave Michael and Sara the reunion they deserved. It’s unfortunate that Sucre hasn’t played a larger part this season, because he added a lot of humor to this installment. Prison Break seems to have found itself again, and there’s solid momentum as the revival heads into the last two episodes of the season.